There Once was a King
by Embarrassingly Fab Biscuit
Summary: Well, there is a sorcerer... that has taken a hold of Li's voice. He placed in an indestructible bottle, only to be open by a single condition. HongIce. AU. Multi-chapter.
1. Chapter 1

There was once a worker whose name was Gansoo. He fell in love with a sorcerer's daughter, who liked to sue. He visited her everyday, walked for miles on his shoes, walked over the mountains just to see her.

Despite it all, there was a war. The worker fell, was shot, and never breathed again. She cried, wondering why he never visited her again, thinking he had gone on to another trend.

"A lover?" she though. She cried and soaked the floors with her tears. It was tragic that she was isolated from the incident. Her father, the sorcerer, saw. He wouldn't have it.

The sorcerer, seeing his daughter in tears, cast a spell on the worker's adopted son, near the village where the worker came from. If he would not have the perpetrator, he would have the next best thing. There was work to be done.

He sneered to himself, cursing under his breath, "If only you hadn't ever been associated with that wretch."

And so that brings us up to today, with our current Li Xiao. He lost his voice, never before had he so, and had no noticeable way of possessing it again. He put on quite a show, dropping the wood in his hands and placing both hands around his neck, not knowing what to do. He lost his voice, but not his senses of taste, smell, sight, or hearing.

He tried to force out a sound, but couldn't utter a word, the opposite of endearing. Why would this happen to him, Li Xiao, son of Gansoo? He kicked the floor and hurt his foot, yet he still wondered why, why would this happen to him, a tailor that fixes shoes?

There was a cloud of smoke, appearing no slower than a frog's croak. The man stood there, not a flibbertigibbet at all, simply wishing to plot a fall.

Li looked up, noticing the shadow looming over him, and met the sorcerer eye to eye.

"Son of Gansoo, your voice is in this bottle," he said as he revealed the container in his hands. Glassy purple, it was, as the eye can see. "It's indestructible, made of the world's finest material. It will break, rupture into pieces, when you comply with a single condition. Find someone with eyes deeper in color than this bottle. Make them love you, confess to you, Li Xiao, that it is all true. The second you do, the voice that you lost with come back without a trace of having been missing."

The daughter had fought for a change, but could only bring about a devious compromise. She didn't want anyone to suffer, but her father was too stubborn. The compromise was made, a simple pact. Let it take the course of a love act.

At that, the sorcerer summoned a cloud of smoke and left the bottle to roll on the moist floor. He disappeared, never to be seen again, and left Li shocked.

##

He was home now, staring at the rain. Li looked out the window and sighed. It was one of the few noises he could make. That was it. It was just a simple exhale. The bottle was now in his hands. It was sealed off, with no entrance, no cork at all, just glass. He looked at it once more, and held it over a little bon fire he had started right under his chimney. What ever was inside, perhaps his voice, started to sparkle, glowing as it gained heat, give off a white sparkle, clear as day, but it became too hot to touch. Li quickly started throwing it back and forth between his hands and crouched over so he could place it on the floor.

He calmed down, flailing his arms to cool down, and looked at the bottle again. It slowly lost the shimmer inside and returned to a regular glass bottle, appearing empty.

"Purple?" he thought to himself. Thunder started kicking in, illuminating the skies with bright whites, far beyond his window.

Who would have a set of purple eyes? How would he communicate with other people? How would he manage himself? Li sneezed onto his forearm. It was too cold for this.

The weather was changing. The temperature had been slowly dropping down the last few weeks as a preparation for winter. There were no more birds, all had migrated. It would be time to plant winter crops again. Li dropped the issue, deciding to go to sleep, and headed over to his bed. He gave one last yawn before he tugged up the covers, and sneaked under them just in time. Finally, resting his head on his makeshift pillow, Li rested for the following day.

##

"Li, open up, it's Mei!" A girl in a pink coat was knocking at the door. "Li! Come quick there's a stranger that's arrived!"

He stretched out his arms, hitting the headboard because he had gone too fast, and sat up. Li opened his mouth, wanting to yell a response, but couldn't. Instead, he jumped into a pair of pants and rushed downstairs to meet his cousin.

"Li, Li, there's this foreigner!" Mei grabbed Li by the shoulder and started running with him through the crowds of people. "Hurry up, we have to help!" Pushing and shoving, they made it to the very front, where the stranger had arrived.

It was wet, dreary all around from yesterday's rain. The stones that were cemented together, forming a road, provided a sleek surface to walk on. Their sandals clunked along at a fast pace, splashing the remaining water up to hip heights.

Practically all the village was there, standing around and whispering to each other, making quiet comments and remarks. No one had seen such a person with such light hair, not even the merchants that regularly came and went. It was a mystery. Why would anyone collapse there? Was he dead?

He had a beaten shirt on, fleece pants, and was wearing a hat made out of straw. The man was lying on the floor, stomach down, head to the side. His skin was pale, almost translucent. Since when had he been there?

The stranger showed no signs of getting up. Flat, dead-like, he laid there.

The entire village was there, crowded around the body, forming a half circle.

Mei walked forward with Li, still clutching onto him by his shoulder, and stopped right in front of the body. She knelt down and placed her small fingers right where his neck and head were joined. There was a small pulse. Looking up at Li, she finally decided to speak up.

"What are you waiting for Li? Help me carry him to the inn! He's obviously still alive."

Li nodded back and knelt down to pick him up almost instantly. He slid his hands under the man to flip him over and lifted the body up, one hand on under his thighs, another clutching his back. Li stepped up, surprised at how light the man was, and nodded at Mei for her to start walking. Turning around to face the other direction, they started to step forward. The villagers started to part into two groups, one on the far right, one on the left, as Mei continued on. Silently, one after one, they started turning their heads, averting their attention from the collapsed foreigner to Li.

The mumbling stopped. Only the sound of two pairs of sandals could be heard skimming along the ground.

##

"Hey, Li, how come you've been so quiet this morning?" Mei sat back up in her chair.

Looking clueless as to how to form an answer, Li bobbed his head in search of paper. He took one, the stranded thing, and scribbled something on it.

_I lost my voice. I think it was the sorcerer that's rumored to live in the mountains. _

Mei looked up, confused.

"Are you _serious_? How are you going to do that, then? Isn't that guy the almighty sorcerer the village warned your dad about? Are there even people that have purple eyes?"

Li pouted a bit. It most likely was. His father had been killed during the last war. It was pathetic. He was the only loss. There had been no other casualties.

_He said I needed to get someone with purple eyes to fall in love with me or something. Who exactly is this benefiting, anyway? Who thought of this?_

Mei laughed to herself.

"Be grateful you have a way out, then!"

The village's doctor came in, instruments in hand. His sleek hair was tied into a pony tail over his left shoulder. His eyes were golden, peaking through the narrow space his eye lids provided.

"Yao! I mean, _Doctor _Yao, Doctor _Wang_, we found this guy collapsed!"

The professional appeared irritated.

"Quit yelling already. Eh? Eh."

He nodded as he pulled up a chair. Yao examined the body, checking for a pulse, trying to figure out what had happened.

Quite after a good couple of minutes, he sighed.

"He just needs a bed, aru. One of you, change his cloths and then give him a place to stay."

Li and Mei nodded simultaneously as Yao walked away to attend some other important business.

"You take care of him then, Li! Have fun!"

She walked off, completely satisfied, deciding to let events roll themselves out.

It was going to be a long day.

**a/n: **

**oh man, let me tell you now, I was just typing off because I wanted to make a rhyme-y whime-y poem things but then it hit me**

**why not add a story oh wait why not hongice why not hongice story**

**so here it is! I'm seriously cry like this took a week to do because I was so occupied with other things, so if you want, if you have the time, click that review button and leave me a message! (Whether I messed something up or if you want to tell me I should continue) I might continue I mean, I probably will because this is just so fun**

**I look it over now and wonder what I was doing- pf, a sorcerer- I can't even lol oh and I didn't stick gansoo in there because the name sounded remotely asian I stuck it in there because I felt like it would be really easy to rhyme haha well ok, cya then!**

**YOU KNOW WHAT I READ THIS OVER AGAIN AND FOUND IT'S LIKE THE MITTLE LERMAID I MEAN LITTLE MERMAID BUT BUT ok... ok. that was also unintentional yeehaw**


	2. Chapter 2

"Who the fuck are you?"

Immediately, Li sat up from the slumped position he had taken from patiently waiting for his guest to wake up. He first looked at the clock on the wall. It had been 3 hours since returning home. Li turned around to face his guest.

"What are you even doing?"

Li jolted from his stool and fell backwards onto the floor, landing square on his butt. The chair flew left and bounced to its side, rolling over until it lost all its momentum. Li must have not been entirely awake.

The stranger looked disgusted, with his scrunched up eyebrows and questioning stare. Was this guy stupid or something? Deciding to move on, he blinked and left it at that.

"Where the hell am I?"

Li took a deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds, and let it out in attempt to calm down. He slowly pushed himself off of the floor. Li lifted his arms over his head and tried to straighten out his back by stretching for a second.

Finally, he opened his mouth and readily curving his lips to the noise he would make, to the sounds he would communicate with, and tried to speak, but nothing came out. He was still inaudible, of course. Li rubbed his forehead with the palm of his left hand and sighed.

How long had it been? It had only been a few hours, but apparently that was all it took to forget. His voice was still trapped somehow in the purple bottle. Now, though, it was out in plain view to the rest of the world, sitting on the top of one of the desks he had in his room.

It took his guest a second to register.

"Can't you speak?"

Li quickly sported up a face of disappointment and shook his head left to right.

"No? But you can understand me… right?"

Li smiled and nodded, meaningfully of course.

His guest renewed a face of confusion and continued to stare blankly.

"Can you tell me where the fuck I am, though?"

Li scanned the room for something to write with. He scurried through his desks and cabinets, rummaging through year old papers and documents, searching for his ink pad and brush. One day it was next to the sink and the other it was under his sock drawer, that writing set, no telling where it would pop up. Li never kept track of where he left it for some odd reason. He always left it lying around somewhere, not caring where. Thank god it didn't take more than a couple of seconds to find it this time around, the second he needed it.

He positioned himself on the empty side of his bed and rolled up his sleeves. Pressing down on a crumpled scrap of paper with a wet brush, he wrote.

_**You're in a village. It's called Gao.**_

_**Our main crop is apricot.**_

The stranger bent over to read and took only a few seconds to skim through.

"… never heard of it. What kind of name is Gao? That's so asian. Is it apricot season? Does everyone here live off apricots, then?"

Li puffed up his cheeks and furrowed his eyebrows. This kid took the leader board with 60 questions per minutes.

_**Try early spring.**_

_**What's your name?**_

"Emil Steilsson. Yours?"

_**Li Xiao.**_

Emil gave a sigh and relaxed the muscles in his face. There was nothing to worry about. This guy seemed innocent enough. Emil continued his interrogation of the place.

##

It was late that afternoon and the temperatures had lowered again. Emil, with a borrowed coat, was now sight seeing and walking around the village, attempting to get a hold of what it had to offer. Making miniature, dense clouds with the breaths he took, Emil followed his guide, silently walking beside him.

"It's cold."

Li blinked as he turned around to answer and simply nodded. He trotted forward.

The sky gave off a brilliant orange in the middle of dark blues and reds. Shops were serving up their dinner menu. The evening crowds of people came out in hopes of finishing their grocery list shopping and spending time with their close relatives. Street lights were well it, white candles showing through glass containers.

Yet out of the dark sky, a single bird, not native to the area, came whishing through. He pierced through the clouds with his rather large beak and a scrolled up note tied to his leg. Rather soon, sheets of snow started checkering through the sky and falling down, almost unnoticeably. The world stopped.

Everyone looked up, everyone, including Emil, who had seen the sight many, many times before, and looked at the clouds. Drizzling in the distance above, tiny flakes took the initiative of starting their journey down to the village. Some appeared like glitter, others like clumps of wax. At the same speed, they all fell, nevertheless, being faltered by short offsetting winds. The moon was visible, overhead of it all, and silently glanced down at the event. The natives of the village watched it all, eyes widened, mouths wide open in excitement. Never had they seen such a natural spectacle. Not ever. It was unheard-of. Eyes flickered in amazement. Winter had officially arrived. It was the first time it had come along with such a bang, though.

Emil saw Li in front of him, paused as well. He silently walked up to him.

Slowly, in attempt not to shatter the silence_ too_ bad, he tapped Li on the shoulder. Li quickly turned to him and smiled. He pointed up to the sky.

"Haven't you ever… seen snow before?"

Li shook his head no. He placed his hand on Emil's shoulder.

"What is it?"

He opened his mouth, ready to say something again, but swiftly closed it.

"What?"

Li scoffed at himself. He hadn't noticed Emil's eye color before. They had been together for quite some time, and by quite some time, a few hours at the most. Li had decided it would be fun to show Emil around, and so they had set off.

He had the perfect line ready to go as well. It was absolutely flawless, free of flaws, just the thing. "_90% of homosexual relationships start with a hand on the shoulder._" He laughed to himself, making the strangest noise, and left Emil wondering as to what had happened. It wasn't a true statistic at all, but it would have totally broken the ice. It was too bad, not being able to shout it out.

Li put on his most attractive smile and tried to look at Emil. It was a smile that said, "This is great." Emil, of course, stared back for a bit, still confused.

"Pff," he muttered as he tried to take a step back. "God, the heck are you even trying to get at?" Nevertheless, Emil tried to fork up a friendly smile in return, perhaps just to be polite, and not make Li feel like a total idiot.

The winds picked up, blowing their hair over their heads and onto their faces. It was time to head back home.

##

_**What location did you travel from, Emil?**_

"Where? Well-"

There was a tapping on Li's window by a small bird of some sort. They both turned their heads to where the noise came from. Emil, recognizing who it was, got up and went to open it.

"Mr. Puffin!"

Emil undid the latches and pushed the window upward, letting the bird in. He flew to the floor, and landed right in front of Li. The bird shook off the snow on its back.

"Hey, bub, what kind of dirty little rack do you have going on?" Li jumped backwards, twisting to hit his side. He folded his arms together and looked at Emil, which just stared back with a half grin.

"It's natural that… Mr. Puffin can talk."

Li shot him a look of betrayal. How was he supposed to know? Emil shrugged it off.

The puffin undid string that attached the note to his leg with his beak and let it fall to the floor before picking it up and presenting it to Emil. The light blonde took it and unrolled it.

"Don't bother hiding, Emil, come back already," he read aloud. He took one of Li's writing utensils and scribbled a little on the back. Blowing on it, Emil walked over to Mr. Puffin to tie it up again.

"Grubby old man…" he murmured as he crouched down. Emil gave the puffin a signal for him to be on his way again, and so he left out the window.

Li wrote something on the little notepad he had gotten especially for conversing with Emil. He lifted it up.

_**Close the window.**_

"Gosh, bossy, sure thing," Emil replied. The crunch of the snow heightened to a rubbery squeak as the window was forced down. He pushed it down the entire way and turned the latches to lock it in place.

"It's getting kind of late…"

Li nodded in approval as he looked out the window.

_**Sure is.**_

"Oh, hey, where will I be sleeping?"

That was a good question. Li looked around the room. He didn't have anything Li could sleep on except his own bed.

_**You can take my bed, I guess.**_

"But where will you sleep, then?" Emil asked.

Li paused a bit before writing something down again.

_**I guess I could try to fit with you?**_

Emil stared at the notepad.

"Well… ok. Don't try anything funny, though."

His instructions were stern. Li crouched over to write on the notepad on his lap again.

_**Funny? It's not like I'll try to grab your crotch.**_

"Good," Emil replied. "I'll just have to trust you then."

And so they went off to bed after they blew out all the miscellaneously placed candles. Actually fitting, though, was a wreck because the bed was made for a single person. Emil and Li both winced at any skin contact as they invested in a battle of sheets. Li pulled one way while Emil pulled the other. There should be a rule made for such a thing, but sadly, they just had to deal with the space issues.

"Good night, then."

**a/n: **

**Zarichka: Oh my gosh, father England! Wow that's smart (I didn't think of that)! I'll try to continue this AU where Emil and Li-Li are the only hetalia characters beside Mr. Puffin but we'll see! I haven't decided whether to add the Nordic and Asian characters just yet.**

**missHydz: I know! Everyone likes super long butt chapters so I've been trying to get a few days worth of ideas in!**

**SCREAMS I ACTUALLY WROTE SOME MORE I'll continue on until it's done then. I'm going to die of embarrassment pretty soon oh well no regrets it's the end of the world on 12/21/12 anyway**

**I hope you can understand me because I feel like I add 2000 commas to every sentence and automatically make them 20 paragraphs long**

**The ,"the crunch of the snow heightened to a rubbery squeak," tidbit was taken from a Nature video on Yellowstone. I really liked it so I was like why not place that bitch here why the fuck not (I was watching it before I got to the snowy part yeah)**

**Oh, I think I'll continue with the whole no electricity thing going on and brushes and ink pads(which I have no knowledge on so if I do something wrong, tell me, tell me!)**

**Oh and tell me if my fake asian named destinations get too awk because I know they are**

**Found a repetitive mistake? A mistake in general? Is a sentence too confusing for you? Do you think I progress too quickly? Or maybe a **_**suggestion **_**for the next chapter? Leave a review, my honey! I will get to you!**


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as the first beam of light came through the old window, Li shuffled out of bed uncomfortably. It had been the coldest night he had ever experience. The weather was usually always forgiving, staying at moderately high temperatures, nothing harsh, so this change had caught him off guard.

Today was an important day for every person in the village of Gao: it was time for the annual Apricot Cake Festival, and it was always as much fun as it sounded.

It was the day everyone made miniature cakes, larger than cupcakes, smaller than a circular birthday cake, and placed them in decorative boxes. If there was a family of two adults and a single child, the family would produce 3 cakes, one to represent each person. The entire point of the festival was to celebrate the end of the apricot season, typically at the latest, mid-august. Anyhow, these cakes would be switched around from person to person in town square right around mid-noon, resulting in everyone receiving one from another villager. It was a fun activity, or well, at least Li though so during his childhood. Decorations were always up, like last year, where red ribbon lined the streets.

He remembered the warmth of being carried, not knowing a thing as to what was going on; the excitement of finally being able to switch around with other children was a feeling that lingered. It had produced a hand full of warm memories.

There were never any trust issues either. The place was so small, everyone practically had heard of everyone else at least once or twice, heck, everyone practically knew everyone else on a _personal _level.

It invited curiosity for strangers, the way the village worked. It created a little peck of culture where social bonds were born with; basically, it was natural in a sense that no one ever had the anxiety of meeting new people, except maybe when they were children. That's why everyone would stare or gawk when someone knew came around. It had become such an extreme, recently.

The year would be different this time around, as will the growing population had received an additional member just the day before: a foreigner. Was this something outsiders could participate in? Or maybe, it was something that only villagers would participate in?

The unthinkable question, in the short history of the history of Gao, had never appeared.

Li felt troubled. He itched to share this little speck of unusual tradition with Emil. It interested him that no other place celebrated this way. It made sense with their impossible amount of apricots, he soon learned. It would forever be something only native to his area. It only made him more unsettled.

He shifted in his bed before being quickly pushed off. Li landed side first on his wooden floor. The day had only begun. There would be numerous chances of working around sudden problems. It brought a smile to his face.

He leaned over the bed and took a good look at Emil. How would he wake him up? Maybe he could tap his shoulders, maybe not. Maybe he could throw a pile of books on him, maybe not. The possibilities were endless, that is, until Emil woke up by himself.

The blonde slowly arose out of slumber as he felt Li's silent hover over him. Adjusting the light which filled the room, Emil fluttered his eyelashes. Still wrapped in the bed covers, he squinted at the brunette.

"What are you doing?"

"_Waking you up_." He pinched Emil's nose. Wouldn't this need to be done fast, the introduction of the festival?

Emil grunted and swatted Li's cold hand away.

##

_**You should wear aprons more often.**_

Emil just darted his gaze.

"Do you have some sort of pent up apron fetish? Quit wasting paper."

Mei came buzzing around the corner with a pair of thick, pink gloves on her tiny hands. "Quit fighting! Hurry up so we can finish, you guys!"

Oh, yes, they had been hard at work every since Mei had came floating through Li's front door, traditional recipe in hand. "As long as you guys keep together during the festival, it should be fine," is what she had said earlier.

She had made plans, earlier, and those plans were to stay with her little bunch of friends during the switching, like she usually did. Li, in particular, usually tagged along with Yao, who was away this year. Where had he gone, anyway? So, in the end, he would have to stick it out with Emil.

Off and on they were, taking breaks and working on completing various burdensome tasks to finish in a record time. Li cut, Mei baked, and Emil prepared the top layer of icing. The kitchen remained silent during the demanding procedure. Emil wasn't one to start a chat, and their big conversationalist, Li, had gone mute. Strange occurrence, it was, but none-the-less, left the situation plain uncomfortable.

Not long after, 3 miniscule cakes were produced, all in varying colors: white, pink, and red. Little apricot pieces covered the top in no particular order. The cake itself was made out of two tiny layers—cushioned together by preserves—perhaps 2 inches high with a diameter of 5 inches. Crushed almonds surrounded the sides, clinging onto the thick icing. Mei covered her cake, the pink one, with a case that had ribbon tied all over it; Emil preferred to leave his alone, leaving his white pastry to present itself; Li doodled all over his case in a red marker, decorating it with whatever came to mind. It was show time.

##

Emil and Li rushed over to town square, where groups of people had already started forming. Everyone had put on their nicest coat and had pre-determined who their first victims of the evening where. It was a bright, lovely day, with the sun out, and all. Red ribbons were up again, with little fish prints. The fish prints were new. Li wondered who had suggested fish prints. They looked good though. Fish prints on red ribbon looked great, actually. Either way, little bushel of grass peeped out of the sides of the paved areas. Everyone had dug out their old winter hats or had bought knew ones. Smiles were worn by everyone, even the young children. It was that fabulous time of year again.

Now and then, Li caught people staring in his direction. As soon as he caught them, though, they would always turn around, cover their mouths with one of their hands, and whisper something in a quizzical voice to the person next to them, like they had some sort of problem. On and on, it had gone, until everyone was chattering. Li's ears warmed up from embarrassment. Jealous. Everyone was just jealous, is what he had settled for. It was childish, that's for sure, but it was so agitating. That's when he decided he would start the whole thing off. He might as well.

Li grabbed Emil's hand and started pushing through the masses of people. He stomped on the ground and took Emil over to the circular platform in the middle.

"Li, what are you doing?"

The brunette simply gave him a quick honey-colored gaze and continued walking.

"Li."

He stopped as soon as they were in the middle.

Li quickly shoved his hand down his large coat pocket and pulled out his method of communication. He jotted the note down quickly, and stuck it to Emil's forehead before presenting the light blonde his cake.

_**Emil, happy Apricot Cake Festival. Please accept my hard work.**_

Emil froze as the crowds of people turned to look. They had all turned around; all of them were gawking at them. _What are they doing? Isn't that the foreigner? What's he doing there? Why is there a box in his hand? Is he participating or something?_ Emil looked at Li, not sure what he was anticipating.

"You're such an idiot. Aren't you supposed to give it to someone that _didn't _help you make it? Wouldn't ours taste the same? Li, you completely defeat every argument I can come up with."

The air froze again, not just because this had been a strange exhibition, but because little chunks of frozen water started checkering the sky again.

Emil hesitantly gave a sigh. It had been such a busy morning.

"It's been a pleasure switching with you."

They switched boxes.

The crowds slowly diverged their attention, some started switching with their lovers first and foremost, some started walking up to those less-known and requesting exchanges. The battle for apricots had begun.

**a/n:**

**this here chappie is like a little short lol and HEY PEOPLE I'M BACK!**

**I was over taken by exams and the end of the semester stuff and then switching my entire schedule around for second semester, so I had to take a hiatus! Please forgive me if I somehow caused you inner angst.**

**Review with a list of my stupid mistakes or if you want me to change something!**

**(and I tried to do research on apricots after I wrote this and had to edit it to fit the apricot standard. But seriously man, apricots. If you are an apricot expert by any chance, yeah I know, I got a bunch of things jumbled and because of the cold all the apricots might die, so not too cold not under 19 degrees Celsius cold pffha)**

**I feel like this chapter was kinda dry(I don't know though, let me know!) maybe I should add some western fantasy to it because there was already a wizard?**

**Zarichka: I might or not still be debating as to who it should be (LOL) hm good thoughts good thoughts**

**missHydz: hey there! I'll take it into consideration yeahh**

**hetaliaforever123: I LIKED THAT LINE TOO (hi five aw yeas)**


	4. Chapter 4

Li looked at Emil—the self righteous blonde—as he slept. The young man resembled a child with his reddened cheeks and messy hair. His eyebrows weren't scrunched up, though, like they usually were. Instead, they were resting peacefully over his eyelids. How did such a person exist, a person with hair as white as parchment paper and eyes that changed from soft to harsh looking so instantaneously? Was there anyone else like him? Knowing the vas diversity of the world, there probably was, but that wasn't the issue. Emil—self righteous Emil—was leaving soon. He would return all of Li's clothing and put on his own, would return to his hometown with Mr. Puffin when he woke up.

Li felt like an idiot. During all of the time they had spent together, every single last moment, Li had avoided the underlying situation. He had pretended like it didn't exist, though he had been constantly reminded that it in fact _did _every single time he had to write for the purpose of communicating. This was it, though.

Emil shifted. His eyes twitched as he pulled the bed covers over his head. It was a matter of time now.

Li thought about how they had met with a bang. It was preposterous now. Li thought about Emil complaining about how the clothing was just a bit too small. That had been cute. Li also thought about the whole Apricot Festival event. Now that was just an embarrassing memory.

"What are you doing?"

Li snapped out of his trance and looked at Emil. He scrambled for something to write on.

"You don't have to write stuff down, Li." He paused and yawned. "I mean, if you want, go ahead, but you're always writing things down."

The brunette returned.

_**Is there something wrong with writing?**_

Emil looked quizzically at the scribbles. He rubbed his right eye with the palm of his right hand.

"Yeah, of course there is."

Their eyes locked. What could it have been? Was Emil angry at something?

_**What is it?**_

"Well, it comes with a story, but I might as well tell you."

Li's mouth made an "o" shape. He straightened his back and become fully attentive. Whatever it was, it was most likely important.

"I was getting some apples one day at the trading market, right? Well, there was this old geezer that was bothering me about walking him home, so of course I got a bit angry." Emil paused for a bit. "Well, duh, like come on, who does that, right? Anyhow, it just so happened that he was some sort of magical being wizard or something because he put this ratty spell on me. So, basically, I've been getting progressively worse at reading because of that. Not that I can't understand, it's just that some letters have started to look a lot like others, so it's been getting harder and harder to read your notes. Does that have a name? I don't know. I have no idea how we're supposed to interact if I can't read though." Emil waited for Li to write something down, but Li simply waited for him to continue. "Why don't we make up a language using our hands or something?"

Emil balled his hand up and lifted his index finger.

"That can mean fish or something. What do you think?"

Li didn't mean to be so amused.

"What are you laughing over?"

An inevitable smile took over Li's face, causing him to go red with ebullience.

"I don't think it's very funny."

Li stopped silently giggling when he caught a glimpse of Emil's emotionless expression. He wrote something down.

_**That's really peculiar. I have a purple bottle, but it's magic. See, this wizard type person also came at me one day. I have no idea why, though. He put my voice in the bottle or something strange like that, but the point is that I haven't been able to talk since then. It's over there by my desk, hidden behind my recipe books. He said I had to get someone to love me. I'd rather have something easier, but whatever.**_

Again, Emil took his time trying to figure out the writing.

"Someone to fall in love with you? Why haven't you done that yet? Wouldn't it be the easiest thing for someone like you?"

Li didn't bother writing anything down, but put on an expression of disbelieve and pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you. Everyone seems to like you."

Li shook his head no. He pointed at Emil.

"_I_ seem to like you? Well I guess I must if I can put up with you."

Li covered his face with his hands. That's not what he had meant. He had meant to express something along the lines of "everyone likes me except for you," but this new development worked as well.

"Are you a teenage girl or something? Look me straight in the eye and me like a MAN."

Li looked up amusingly. "Like a man?" he asked in his head.

Emil's cheeks puffed up from being exposed to so much awkwardness. The room fell silent for a few.

"If that's all you need I could introduce you to someone, I guess."

The brunette realized the mistake he had made earlier in elucidating about the situation. "That's how I could pay you back for letting me stay here so long. We'll have to go back to my place because I don't think my relatives would like it, though."

##

They were now in Emil's hometown where it was outrageously cold all year long.

"Snow in the summer, snow in the spring, winter, fall, whatever time of year it is. If there's no snow and it's, say, sunny, then people will sometimes wear their short-sleeved shirts outside. But for a foreigner like you, it would still be freezing cold."

"You bet your bottom cent," Mr. Puffin added.

Li folded his arms inward and sneezed. His breath condensed into white puffs when he breathed out. The tip of his nose was red. His fingertips were going to fall off any minute. He had expected climate change, but not to this extent. Emil trotted onward with Mr. Puffin on his shoulder.

"Chicks or guys, Li? Hold your right hand up for chicks, left hand for guys."

Li halted. Emil turned around.

"Or do you not like either?"

Li looked at the ground with an unsatisfied expression. How was he going to tell Emil now? The more time that passed, the more awkward it would get. What about now? Now was a perfectly good time.

"Or maybe you like both?"

Li couldn't bring himself to do it. There wasn't anything to write on either. He didn't mean to be rude by not answering, heck, he didn't intend to on being so specious either, but it had just happened. It was his fault, though. He should have thought before writing.

"Let's go to my house if you don't want to answer right now. Two days of traveling, well, you must be tired."

Li looked up and tried to look a bit more pleased.

"Oh yeah, one thing."

They started moving again.

"My relatives are really loud."

Emil had sounded very sluggish in that last sentence. It couldn't have been worse than Li's own.

The sun was visible behind a pair of clouds, but it didn't provide much heat. Li carried on in his thickest jacket, which in reality couldn't keep him properly insulated. Emil seemed fine, already accustom to harsh weather.

What was new to Li was something that Emil must have faced as well: the fact that everyone looked similar in an unfamiliar way. For one thing, as Li walked behind Emil, he noticed everyone around him was blonde. There were variations from person to person, yeah, like some where whiter blonde and some where the more cherry blonde. Where were all the brunettes? There weren't any. It struck him, though, that Emil must have gone through the same shock when he finally got to explore around Gao. Everyone there had dark hair and peachy complexions. Everyone here was more rosy and fair. Not that it was uncomfortable, for it was truly alright, but it was something completely different for sure. Height varied from person to person and structure as well, like it normally would. There were some laughing, some keeping to themselves, etcetera. It was nice being exposed to this new town. Li smiled to himself and lifted his scarf over his nose. It was cold as hell.

Emil grabbed Li's hand as they took a stone path away from the town square. It lead up to a subsection where all the housing was. There were mostly log cabin type structures.

"This is it. Brace yourself."

Emil tightened his grip on Li's hand. He twisted the knob with his other and pushed the door open before being greeted by an invading smell of baked bread. It was a delightful smell—thin and sweet. It intensified as they stepped forward into the energetic living room. Mr. Puffin hopped off of Emil's shoulder and went over to greet a tall man in a red apron.

"Mr. Puffin, where's Emil?" the man asked as he turned around. His eyes lit up as he saw the young man in front of the door with Li. He removed his oven mitts and stepped out of the kitchen.

"Is he your secret lover or something? Where have you been? Have you been with him these past couple of days?" he asked as he walked on over.

"Matthias, please," Emil replied as he took off his hat.

Matthias' eyes refused to stop searching for an answer. He stopped in front of Li.

"Hey there! What's your name? It's super rare for Emil to bring anyone home."

Emil scowled hoping that he would go away. Matthias just patted him on the head.

"Cat got you're tongue?"

"Matthias, he can't speak."

"Can he understand me?"

"Of course he can, he's not a total idiot like you."

Matthias single handedly filled the room with laughter.

**a/n:**

**I feel like this is getting more and more idiotic and messy and awkward but I don't care because it's so fun to write omfg**

**And hello my babies I am back from school work**

**I don't even know what's going to happen anymore man the stuff writes itself. Oh, and I have graduated from my kindergarten days. I am now a self proclaimed first grader. I am so excited.**

**Anyhow, please leave a review or something if I'm still making dumb mistakes or if you want to tell me something!**

**Hetaliaforever123: I KNOW OMFG I WAS KIND OF CRYING ON THE INSIDE BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW IF IT WAS APPROPRIATE OR NOT THE WHOLE "I'M SO COOL I CAN BE OUTGOING AND STUFF" THING but yeah I think it turned out ok so you know lol all is well with the world**


	5. Chapter 5

"What do you people think you're doing?" Emil almost yelled. "Why are you all in my room?"

The adult members of the close family burst into laughter and giggles.

Tino had walked in earlier to see if Emil had been awake and hadn't been able to stop himself from staring at the two teenagers sleeping. It warmed his heart in a very sentimental way. Since when had Emil made such a friend so close he was comfortable sleeping with him? The small light blonde sure had grown. Anyhow, Tino had called over Berwald who went downstairs and got Lukas which dragged Matthias along to see as well, so in the end all of them had gathered in Emil's room.

Cherry red was the color of his face. It was the very tint of embarrassment. It was partially his fault in a way, though, because he had forgotten to lock the door like he always did. Emil felt himself getting self-conscious.

"I'm totally serious you guys," Emil said with a pout.

Everyone calmed down a bit but the smiles continued.

"His name is Li, right?" Lukas asked right after he adjusted the clip in his hair.

"Of course it is! What did I say?" Matthias replied.

"I was asking Emil."

"Too bad. I beat him to it."

Matthias flashed Lukas a smile before returning his attention to Emil.

Li shifted and pulled the bed-sheets over his head before he felt something off. He rose and sat upward. He had only faintly started to stretch before he had glanced to his side. Berwald's intimidating glare spooked him out so much that he squirmed back under in an instant with a yelp. He peeped out a few moments later and grabbed a hold of Emil's warm hands with his own shaky cold ones.

The inner thirds of his eyebrows were lifted and his eyes were peeled open. "What was that?" he mentally asked before he scooted closer to Emil and squeezed his hand.

"Wait"—Emil looked at his group of family members and back to Li—"don't be so surprised, it's just Berwald."

Laughter once again rose.

"I mean well, if it was the one with the glasses." Emil switched to a whisper. "Don't worry. He looks like that all the time. You'll get used to it."

Li blinked and turned around slowly to make eye contact with the tall, sharp-featured man. Li gave an apologetic smiled and mouthed an apology. Berwald nodded. Everyone he met for the first time had a similar reaction.

The meeting was then followed by a quick introduction session conducted by Emil.

"Starting from left to right there's Matthias—"

"Hey there!"

"Lukas—"

"Hi."

"Berwald—"

"Mh."

"and Tino."

"Hello."

The chat proceeded a bit before the noisy adults left. It was almost time for breakfast and no one had prepared anything yet.

Li tried to mentally note all of their names but it was a bit difficult because he typically never heard names with the letters arranged in such manners. Typically, the names he heard had similar structures to—for example—the names Mei and Yao. Simple, sweet, and a lot of vowels were basically it. There were some variations from time to time, though. He had a relative called Kiku, which was probably the most radical. There was also one called Yong Soo. The names Lukas and Tino had different rings to them. The name Emil was alright, but it definitely had sounded foreign the first time he had heard it none-the-less.

"Is toast with eggs ok for breakfast, Li?" Emil asked.

Li turned around. He must have looked a little dumb spacing out like that.

"The food we have here isn't like over there in Gao. Tell me if you're uncomfortable with it. I'll ask my brothers if you can use the kitchen to make something for yourself or something."

Li's mouth opened just a bit but he quickly closed it and then nodded joyfully at Emil. The guy was really trying to help him feel comfortable. Had Li done the same thing when Emil came along? Now that he thought about it, he didn't really ask if Emil liked anything. Had he been inconsiderate?

"Ok. Cool. I'll be in the bathroom, then. It's the one on the right of this room."

Li once again nodded to show he understood.

##

The two teens had been out and about, Li now dragging his feet and Emil giving himself a headache for thinking so long about people who would want to try and start it off with Li. It didn't bother being outside in a public area but the awkwardness that has accumulated did. In short, the expedition had been a bust.

_**You could have told me you didn't have anyone in mind.**_

"Well, sorry." Emil felt a little tug in his chest.

_**You didn't have to force yourself, you know. It would have been alright.**_

Emil shot him a curious look. "How so?"

Li fidgeted a bit with his pen.

_**Well, it was nice going out with you today, so you know, it's ok.**_

"What? But it doesn't get either of us anywhere, right?"

Li crossed his arms and lowered his head a bit. Current sights: the floor.

_**But it was fun, alright? It was totally fun. Don't feel bad about it. We could try tomorrow.**_

Emil got a bit irritated. He felt the tingle of his own bashfulness as well. "You're really not mad?"

Li punched Emil on the shoulder from the other side of the table. He mouthed the phrase "no way" half because he didn't want to write and half to see if Emil could lip-read.

"Show day? What's that?"

Li smiled. Nope. Not yet, at least.

##

"Are you fucking stupid?" Emil with his intense swing of emotions was on the verge of tears. "Fuck. You're going to die this way, asshole."

Li had fallen on the way home. It had resulted in a bruise on his right knee. What was worse was that he had been too cold, even under a few thick layers of coats and sweaters, so it had been an invitation for frost bite on the areas of his skin that had been exposed to the weather.

"God, I knew we shouldn't have gone."

He was lying on Emil's bed now with a large bandage over his injury. It had been by pure accident that he had tripped on his own shoes. To be particular, Emil's shoes. They were these big hiking boots that Emil had out grown the year before, or so he had mentioned. They felt very strange because of the thick platforms. Those are what he had tripped on, the big platforms at the bottom because he hadn't lifted his leg high enough.

What was interesting was that no one was home. All of the adults were probably at work or something, but none of them were there loitering. It was warm inside, though, because all of the fireplaces were well lit. At least that was something neither of them had to worry about.

"Stay here. I'll get us something to eat." Emil then left the room.

Ah, it was just Li again. He rose a bit to take a little peek at the bruise. He couldn't see it because of the white bandage over it of course, but it felt like it would be a blue of some sort. Was he bleeding as well? He felt his scrapped skin from falling on a couple of pebbles. They weren't the normal type of pebble either, all round and small; they had been the larger with rough sides.

The worst part must have been when Emil had rubbed a piece of cotton that had been dipped in isopropyl alcohol onto the wound to disinfect it. God that had stung. They could have washed it out with water or something, but he had a feeling that would have hurt just as bad. He had always hating disinfecting his own wounds ever since he was a child. Emil's hand felt ticklish against his skin when he had been applying the bandage, but the sensation had only lasted for a little while. That was the better part of getting injured. People tried to take care of you.

Soon Emil returned with cups full of soup in his hands, quickly pacing over to Li's side.

"One of my brothers made it about two days ago. It's not heated, but it should be ok."

The brunette nodded and graciously took the cup for a drink. It had the faint smell of chicken and had little pieces of miscellaneous vegetables in it. The liquid was white and very dense.

Emil's shoulders relaxed after he sat in his chair and started to chew some of his carrots. There wasn't a need to be so pissed off all the time. He stole a peek at Li who was looking very quizzically at this piece of broccoli. Yeah, yeah, like everyone said, it actually did look like a little green tree.

"Having trouble there?" Emil said with a half grin. That was cute.

Li looked at him in surprise and then at the broccoli.

"I don't think so."

**a/n:**

**crying thank you guys for following this story and stuff I'm sorry I hadn't updated for so long! I'll try to update a little faster! Tell me what you guys think I want to know(or if you have a suggestion of any sort because I would like to hear that too or if I made a dumb mistake that is nice as well)**

**crying again though I feel like this chapter was a little dull but then again I think all of my chapters are dull so yeah let's see what happens next thenn**

**also I've decided on the characters in the sense that I'll only be using Nordic and Asians in this work. Everyone else will be an oc until further notice, like the wizard type guy**


End file.
